Happy Earth Day, everyone!
The clouds are relieving California’s thirst today! It is sad to think the Early Native Americans of California once thrived on the abundant water resources and the life along the coastal regions. Unfortunately the drought statistics still show that California is in the red zone, fortunately it is better than it was last year. If you would like to keep an eye on the status of the California drought You can go to the U.S. Drought Monitor of California or Click Here.
My heart goes out to Houston, Texas for they are hurting from the severe floods. I would like to take the opportunity in this blog to express some revelations, talk a little about Earth, and leave you with a suspenseful story based on true events along with some fiction that I wrote for the Houston floods.
Yesterday I had a talk with my counselor and it was a very emotional talk. As my fourth semester nears to an end and the fifth is nearly four months away, we talked about majors and what I have done so far. Towards the end of our conversation it hit me! I started crying and said, “I never thought I would be here. I never thought I would make it to college and do what I am doing now. If you asked me five years ago if I would be in college, my answer would have been no.” I limited myself, told myself, “Your anxiety isn’t going to let you go to college. You can’t go to college, you aren’t strong enough to manage that.” Of course a few sobs were let out when my counselor looked at me with tears in her eyes.
I have always had suffocating anxiety to where I fell into the comfort of not leaving my comfort zone, not pushing myself, but telling myself, “That’s too much for me. I can’t do it.” Over the years as I get older I realize that if I want to get anything, I have to push myself and just go for it. There’s a chance of failing either way but it’s worse to not try at all. The best advice for college students: Ask as many questions as you can until you get the answers you need. Don’t be scared to ask or talk to counselors, professors, deans, office staff, ect. You’re at college to establish yourself, to learn as much as you can so when you leave college; you aren’t lost. Whenever I leave a meeting with a counselor or a professor I feel relief like fresh oxygen is flowing through my body again. Fear is the most toxic poison you can feed your body. It teaches your body unhealthy habits and it stunts your success. Think positive thoughts and don’t over think something that hasn’t happened because it is most likely not to happen. Think about a time where you were afraid to do something but you pushed yourself, think about the feeling of that accomplishment you felt afterwards. You CAN do it.
For my story we had to choose an article from the newspaper or news. I chose the floods in Houston. I hope you enjoy it and continue to pray/positive thoughts for the people and the city.
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The Search
The tears from the raging clouds nearly drowned the roads of Houston, Texas. It all came so fast like a spitting waterfall that gushed its body through Houston, bearing no mercy to the life that lives just above the ground; suffocating the lungs of plants. It was 170 years ago where the city faced its first catastrophe along the banks of the Buffalo Bayou. Though reservoirs tried to stunt the chances of floods since the 1940s, the merciless storms still wavered its rage upon the helpless city along with the climate swings and urban booms.
Usually I would be sitting behind a desk around this time. Anxious to kick my heels off and change from my pencil skirt and matching shirt and indulge in the comfort of my sweats and baseball T-shirt. I fixed the falling strands of my brown hair from stabbing my searching eyes. I observed the calamity around me and my heart sunk at the grief in strangers faces. Neighbors were being evacuated from their apartments, bringing only a small bundle of their belongings in trash bags and store bags, carrying their beloved animals on their shoulders. Tears fell down many worried faces as they dragged their legs in the high water. People were also evacuated from major highways thanks to the bayou spills that overflowed from the pit of its reservoirs. The bayou spills began Sunday. The rain cried and cried and cried, revealing a lack of emptiness from the stomach of the clouds that threatened the cities.
I watched on as young children were carried on the shoulders of their parents and grandparents, waving at the passing people; confused as to why there was so much water. Wondering why they were leaving their homes.
Just down the road there was a pitching cry and the sound of water thrashing violently. I gasped at the urgency and I began to run towards the cry, tripping a few times in the process and picking my tired body from sinking beneath the water.
“Look!” A young little girl cried! “It’s a puppy!”
I didn’t hear her, it was all a blur. By time I got to the drowning puppy it began to kick less, exhausted from fighting to keep its head above the water. I grabbed the small golden retriever and placed it on the hood of the car next to us. Panting from exhaustion, waiting for the ball of anxiety to subside and disappear. But it wouldn’t go away.
By Tuesday runoff from the creeks spilled over from the 18 inches of rain that ravished the banks. People in living facilities were evacuated. Hope was taken away when the roads that had been reopened, now lies buried beneath the raging floods that continued on through Wednesday. Studies proved that it was a result from the extreme rainfall from the Gulf Coast. This isn’t the first disaster that struck the city of Houston. Just after seven years of being established, Houston received its first flood in 1843.
“HELP!”
I picked my head off the hood of the car and found a woman half-plunged under the water thrusting her arms from slapping the water around her and pushing herself away from the car she was trapped in. I picked the puppy up from the hood of the car and placed it in the little girl’s arms.
A small crowd of people hurried over to her, I was the first to get to her.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, opening the door to her blue mini van.
She tried to keep herself from sobbing, “It’s my seat belt! I can’t get out! I’m stuck!” The exasperated woman grabbed my arm, “You have to help me get out! My grandson is in the back!”
I looked behind her and saw a chin sticking up from the water, he looked no more than two years old. I tried to open the sliding door but it would not open.
The woman in the car gasped!
“You have to open it from the inside! The locks don’t work right and the keys fell on the passenger side’s floor. I can’t reach it!”
My eyebrows frowned at the new challenge before me. I thought to myself, “Of course the locks don’t work. Of course the keys are lost. What else could happen?”
“It’s going to be okay, I will get your grandson out. I promise,” I placed my hand on her shoulder.
My eyes searched frantically for anything that could help me unlock the door. Finally I found a skateboard on the steps of a staircase. I ran towards it and fell over a mysterious object in the water. After picking myself up I reached the staircase and brought the skateboard back to the car. The baby had started wailing, it must be tired from holding his head up.
“It’s okay, baby!” The grandmother cried.
I smashed the window open and tossed the skateboard to the side. Balancing my footing, I carefully attempted to climb inside. Not careful enough.
“OUCH!” I was cut but I didn’t know how bad, I wasn’t paying attention to it. I quickly crawled from the very back of the car, over bags and suitcases and flopped over the seat next to the boy. The boy relaxed when he saw me but it nerves began to get the best of him again. Quickly, I began working on his seat belt, but much like the woman’s; it was stuck.
I wanted to SCREAM! UGHHHH!!!! Why is this so hard!?
Fear rose to my head and I began to stumble over my thoughts. What am I supposed to do?
The boy began to twitch. He couldn’t hold his head up any longer.
My breathing began to turn into quick breaths, my nerves were going in shock as well. My eyes landed on the broken glass and impulsively I grabbed a short piece that fit in my hand and started to cut the belt loose. Blood slid from my palm and made the water red.
The boy slumped over in the water, free at last. I picked his body up and carefully crawled out of the back window.
“He’s okay! Your grand baby is okay!” I ran to her side and showed her the crying boy in my arms.
She began to sob, “thank you! Oh, Thank you!”
I went back to the back window and grabbed another piece of glass and removed the woman from her entrapment. She was pulled out of the car and united with her grandson.
“You’re a hero, young lady!” The woman holding her grandson enveloped me in a tight hug. I winced at the sharp pain coming from my side. I looked from my bleeding hand to the blood flowing from the side of my right thigh.
“Are you okay?” A young woman who looked the same age as me, inspected my wounds. She tore a piece of clothing from her shirt and wrapped my hand up in it. She tore another piece off and wrapped it tightly around my thigh.
“Thank you.” I extended my good hand out, “My name is Allison, what’s your name?”
She shook my hand, “Peggy.”
The crowd that was around the car turned from the woman and her grandson to thank me. It was not a problem, they were all trying to help too.
The reservoirs were out in the country when the city began to grow, town officials seem to have forgotten them over the last 20 years. Now here we are in the pit of this Water Apocalypse. Money was spent on drainage systems to accommodate floods, a $1 billion investment in 4 years. Nice try, guys. Several floods hit over the years. One of them ironically named, the Tropical Storm Allison. A collection of 39 inches of rain. Money seems to always be the problem. Frantic to find it, frantic to decide where to spend it.
I wiped away the salty water from my forehead with the back of my left hand and walked in the direction of any pleading cries. We are in numbers now, our group got bigger as we helped more and more people. After today, at least 7 people were dead.
The search continues on.
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Article used: http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/article72580057.html
I hope everyone has a great day and a beautiful Earth Day experience!
If you want to do a few things that don’t take much time, please throw away garbage and recyclables in the appropriate waste. Earth is here today but if we don’t keep it clean and healthy, it may not be here tomorrow. It gives us the chance to live, we should not stunt its breath of life either.
Until next Friday,
Ashley 🙂
Moments in Our Lives 